Immigration and integration policy in France: relationship between policy research and political decisionmaking

Abstract

This thesis frames the ethno-political situation and immigrant integration in France through examining the relationship and interaction between integration policy research and actual political decision-making in terms of French immigration and integration policy. The thesis proposes that the relationship between policy research and political decision-making contradicts and reveals a gap. To support the argument, this study offers a relationship analysis over a decade-long time frame to evaluate under which integration indicators the policies have tended towards being restrictive and discouraging or nonrestrictive and encouraging. In order to analyze the linkage, the study focuses on different ministerial reports, national surveys, specific policies and legislation over the period of 2000-2013. The results indicate that firstly, problems surrounding French integration model derive from fundamental tension between republican universalist values on the hand and systematic rejection of ethnic and racial categories on the other; secondly, relationship between integration related policy research and political decision-making contradicts; and finally, two out of five indicators reveal that integration policies have tended towards being strongly restrictive.